Asia

== Asia ​** [|Image by 1Up Travel] **==

Yangtze River dolphin //(Lipotes vexillifer)//
=**__ Distribution  __**= Endemic to the Yangtze Basin in eastern China. The species has recently only been recorded from the 1700 km stretch of the middle and lower Yangtze River between Yichang and Shanghai; this historical  distribution has always been downstream of the site of the Three Gorges Dam project. Until the 1950s the species was also present in the Qiantang River. __** Population Estimate **__ A series of surveys conducted between 1997 and 1999 provided a minimum population estimate of only 13 individuals. Although a number of unverifiable opportunistic sightings have been reported by local fishermen over the past few years, a recent November-December 2006 international range-wide survey failed to find any surviving animals in the Yangtze, and it is likely that the species is now extinct. __ The baiji is classified as Critically Endangered (CR C2a(ii); D) on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. If it still survives, it is the world’s rarest and most threatened cetacean species.
 * Status** __

**__ Threats __** The main threats to the survival of the species are from the massive human impacts on the degraded Yangtze ecosystem. Over 400 million people live within the Yangtze River catchment, and the riverbanks are lined with large, industrialised cities. The river is one of the world’s busiest waterways, and is heavily utilised for transport, fishing and industrial development. Probably the major cause of mortality is accidental by-catch from gill-nets, and illegal rolling hook lines and electro-fishing (which were both banned two decades ago in China because they kill dolphins, but which are still widely used along the Yangtze). Other deaths have resulted from collisions with boats, and engineering explosions for maintaining navigation channels. The Yangtze’s environment has been further degraded by pollution, upstream damming and dredging. In particular, the recently completed Three Gorges Dam is likely to affect downstream fish stocks and further reduce areas of suitable habitat. Population fragmentation is also likely to have affected any surviving baiji individuals. [|Image by Itsnature]

 \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ **__Distribution__** The Chinese giant salamander is widespread in central, south-western and southern China, although its range is now very fragmented. It occurs from 100–1,500 m above sea level in the mountain stream tributaries of the Pearl, Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. The species ranges from Qinghai and Sichuan to Guangxi, Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces. The population in Taiwan has probably been introduced from mainland China. No accurate population estimate is currently available, although it is known that this species was once reasonably common but has declined catastrophically over the last thirty years, principally due to over-exploitation for the food market since at least the 1960s because its meat is considered to be a delicacy in China. It is now very rare, with few known surviving populations. The Chinese giant salamander is listed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species because of an observed drastic population decline, estimated to be more than 80% over the last three generations (since the 1960s), due to over-exploitation.
 * Chinese Giant Salamander //(Andrias davidianus)//**
 * __Population Estimate__**
 * __Status__**

**__Threats__** Commercial over-exploitation for human consumption is the main threat to the Chinese giant salamander. They are considered to be both a luxury food item and an important source of traditional medicines in China. A factor that renders the Chinese giant salamander particularly vulnerable to hunting is that they are easy to catch – they hide in rock crevasses and may be easily found and hooked out of their hiding place. They remain a lucrative option for hunters, who can sell the flesh for around US$100 per kg (or £30 per lb). Although there is commercial farming and breeding of this species, the vast majority of Chinese giant salamanders being traded are believed to originate from the wild and their harvesting is neither regulated nor managed. This species has also suffered from habitat destruction, for example from the construction of dams which convert their free-flowing stream habitats into standing water or dry them up completely. Habitat degradation is also of grave concern to this species, especially factors such as water pollution from mining activity and farming throughout its range. Other threats to the Chinese giant salamander’s habitat includes deforestation around the streams inhabited by this species. This exacerbates soil erosion and causes increased runoff and siltation of the streams, reducing water quality and making it difficult for this species to get enough oxygen through its skin. [|Image by China International Travel Service]

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff **__Distribution __** The species has suffered a drastic reduction in its range. It now occurs only in three separated habitats in northwest China (Lake Lob, Taklimikan desert and the ranges of Arjin Shan) and one in the Trans-Altai Gobi desert of southwest Mongolia. The largest population lives in the Gashun Gobi (Lop Nur) Desert in Xinjiang Province, China, which was for 45 years used as a test site for nuclear weapons.
 * Bactrian camel //(Camelus bactrianus)//**

**__Population Estimate__** There are approximately 600 individuals surviving in China and 350 in Mongolia. In contrast, there are over 2 million domestic Bactrian camels currently living in Central Asia. Classified as Critically Endangered (CR A3de+4ade) on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The species has suffered greatly at the hands of humans. It has lost habitat to mining and industrial development, and has been forced to compete with introduced livestock for food and water. Farmers hunt the camel for this reason, and many individuals are lost every year when the camels migrate out of protected areas and onto land set aside for grazing. Domestic Bactrian camels are amongst the animals introduced to these areas. They graze alongside reserves containing their wild relatives, and there is much concern that interbreeding and subsequent hybridisation will lead to the loss of the genetically distinct wild camel. [|Image by Redorbit] Sumatran rabbit //(Nesolagus netscheri)// ** **__Distribution__** Occurs in the Barisan Mountains in west and southwest Sumatra, Indonesia. The species was recorded in Gunung Leuser National Park in northwest Sumatra in 1972, and possibly sighted in Mount Kerinci National Park in 1978. The rabbit’s habitat lies within the Sundaland Biodiversity Hotspot, which is home to at least 13 other Critically Endangered species.
 * __Status__**
 * __Threats__**

**__Population Estimate__** Unknown, but probably very rare. A survey of Sumatra in 1984 located only three places where local people knew of rabbits, but in one case there may have been confusion with feral European rabbits (//Oryctolagus cuniculus//), and in another the forest had been cleared by 1989. Classified as Critically Endangered (CR B1+2abcde, C2a) on the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It was thought to be extinct until it was accidentally photographed by a camera trap in 1998. Even now it is considered the world’s rarest rabbit and is in grave danger of becoming extinct as the population is so low.
 * __ Status __**

**__ Threats __** The main threat is loss of its forest habitat for cultivation, especially tea and coffee plantations. Low levels of hunting may also occur, but the species occurs at such low densities and in such remote areas that local people rarely go to the effort of trying to find it. [|Image by Fauna & Flora International]

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**Slender loris //(Loris tardigradus)//**  Endemic to Sri Lanka. The red slender loris (//Loris tardigradus tardigradus//) is distributed in the south and southwestern parts of the country, in the tropical rainforests and intermonsoon forests of the wet zone of Sri Lanka. The highland slender loris (//L. t. nycticeboides//) is known only from the central highlands of Sri Lanka. It has been observed in five forest patches to date: Horton Plains National Park, Peak Wilderness Sanctuary, Haggala Strict Natural Reserve, Pattipola forest reserve, and Bomuruella forest reserve. Unknown. Status __** //Loris. t. tardigradus// is classified as Endangered on the 2006 IUCN Red List, whereas //L. t. nycticeboides// is classified as Critically Endangered. **__ Threats __** Both subspecies are declining as a result of habitat degradation and fragmentation. Forests in Sri Lanka are rapidly being cleared for logging, agriculture (particularly tea, rubber, cinnamon and oil palm plantations) and human settlement, leaving slender loris populations stranded in poor quality forest fragments, where there is often insufficient food and shelter. The use of agricultural pesticides may be reducing the quantity of insect prey in some areas, and accumulation of some insecticides is thought to be negatively affecting lorises. Current geological surveys have reported that the Horton Plain and other montane peaks contain high levels of lead pollution and there are fears that this may be leading to decreased fertility in the lorises that occur there. Over-collection of firewood is also causing a problem because villagers are not only collecting dead wood but also cutting down the under-story plants, many of which contain seedlings of important cloud forest trees. There are also reports of the slender lorises being electrocuted on power lines, or killed while crossing roads. [|Image by ZSL London Zoo]
 * __Distribution__**
 * __Population Estimate__**
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